Monday, April 20, 2015

Haider al-Abadi and his empty words

Yesterday, we noted that Iraqis fleeing the violence in Ramadi were being denied entry into Baghdad. The Tweet above is about the results of that policy (which demands that you have a "sponsor" to enter Baghdad).

Yes, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi did imply, on Saturday, that he was ending the policy.

But like so many of his words, they were empty and meaningless. The policy continued Sunday and continues today. Despite his Saturday statements.

The Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi discussed on Saturday with his Deputy
Saleh al-Mutlaq in a telephone contact the conduct of operations in
Anbar province and canceling the / sponsor / condition of entry of the
displaced people to Baghdad.

A statement by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said that the two
sides discussed during the contact the security situation and the
conduct of military operations in Anbar province, as well as ways to
provide services to thousands of displaced families, and the position of
the issue of the sponsor requirement as a security measure to enter the
capital, Baghdad.

The PM and his Deputy also agreed, according to the statement on "the
abolition of this condition and the sufficiency with identifiable
routine procedures and maintain fraternal spirit among Iraqis, noting
that the people of Baghdad are able to embrace their brothers and their
own displaced people from Anbar.

“Our government has successfully concluded a long-sought,
interim agreement with our Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). This
agreement provides for a fair sharing of oil revenues and the weapons
and support that the Peshmerga forces need to participate fully in the
fight against Daesh (ISIS) as a part of Iraq’s security forces,” Abadi
added. “We are also restoring relationships with the local tribes in
areas threatened or dominated by Daesh. I have met regularly with
representatives from the provinces of Anbar, Salahaddin and Mosul.”While it is true that Abadi signed a temporary deal with the
KRG, facts on the ground indicate that the agreement has not been
followed by action: the salaries of Kurdish civil servants are still
months behind, the KRG treasury is empty, Kurdish officials still
complain they lack proper weapons to fight ISIS; and Erbil is suffering
financially from the burden of providing for more than 1.4 million war
refugees and internally displaced from Syria and other parts of Iraq who
have flooded to Kurdistan for safety.

Embarrassing:Abadi also touched on the importance of free speech at a very
sensitive time: only a fortnight ago Reuter’s bureau chief Ned Parker
left Iraq following threats from Shiite militias, after reporting
serious human rights violations by Shiite fighters in Tikrit earlier
this month.[. . .]Responding to a question about Parker, Abadi said he did not
understand why the journalist had left the country, and added that the
government had ordered more protection to the Reuters office – an
unconvincing reply to an important question.

Nouri al-Maliki had a pattern that he established in his first term and perfected in his second. He would say the time is not right for something. He first did this in July of 2006 when the Bremer Walls went up throughout Baghdad -- in response to the Green Zone almost being breached -- while he was out of the country. He insisted that as soon as he returned, they would come down. They did not come down during his first term.

To get a second term as prime minister (after losing the election), he promised to implement Article 140 of the Constitution at last and allow a referendum and census to resolve who had the rights to Kirkuk -- the KRG or the government out of Baghdad. And this was put into The Erbil Agreement which, a day after being signed, allowed Parliament to finally meet, name a president, a prime minister-designate and a Speaker of Parliament. That was November 2010 and a referendum and census were set to take place in December of 2010 but then Nouri declared the time wasn't yet right.

In February 2011, he claimed protesters were causing problems and insisted if they would stop protesting and give him 100 days, he would end corruption in Iraq. The protesters went home. 100 days came and went. And Nouri ignored his promise.

We can go over this repeatedly.

This is how Nouri responded. He lied and insisted he would do something shortly.

Haider's different.

Haider lies up front claiming he's done something when he has hasn't.

There's the (incomplete) oil deal he keeps taking credit for, for example. And there's his September 13th announcement that he had ended the Iraqi military's illegal bombing of Falluja homes (illegal and a War Crime) which was followed by . . . the military's continued bombing of Falluja homes.

There's Saturday's announcement that really didn't imply, really stated, that his new rule on a "sponsor" being required to enter Baghdad was being shelved.

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.